Lymington XODs at Cowes Classic Week 2018
by Nik Froud 1 Aug 2018 07:25 BST
23-27 July 2018
45 XODs fill the Solent on day 1 of Cowes Classics Week © Tim Jeffreys Photography
A small but committed group of six XODs made the crossing from western to central Solent for the first pilgrimage to Cowes of the summer – Cowes Classic Week. All six boats were keen to demonstrate the ever-increasing standard of the Lymington division within the large 46 boat fleet.
Day 1
Monday dawned with a classic Cowes setting and a hopeful forecast – 12-15 knot SW breeze and complex tide, providing the prospect of an outstanding race.
Max Crowe and team Claire De Lune in X33 started as they left off in 2017 playing the left side of the beat to lead around the first windward mark They were followed closely by X80 Lass with her now legendary helmsman, John Tremlett. Positions were extremely tight and changing constantly. Max, Mike and Jeremy sailing X33 were unlucky to lose a top 3 on the last beat as the course bias shifted right for the first time. The team finished fourth, with Henry Bagnall (X78) securing the win in the last few boat-lengths to the finish. Further back, X72 Venus managed a 7th, whilst X32 Ibex of Paul Woodman and Ollie James scored 10th, both boats content to get the regatta underway with top ten finishes.
Day 2
This presented lighter and trickier conditions. Whilst the wind remained in the SW, its velocity was 5 kts lower than the previous day and thus reading the windshifts and tide became the gain feature. X48 XL, sailed by Rory Paton, Jo Hutchinson and Ollie Tait flew out of the traps at the start of race 2, occupying the pin end, with Ibex slightly further up the line. However, an over-enthusiastic lay-line call compromised the position of both boats, with early tackers from the left side using the lee-bow tide to cross the course to advantage. Team Venus, crewed by youth sailors Nik & Hannah Froud and Gareth Viney identified this early on to round the first mark in 2nd place and to drop only one place, to finish with a solid 3rd. Tremendous speed and guile was shown once again by X33, who bounced back from a poor start to finish 6th, overtaking over 20 boats in the process. Race 3 and the second race of the day hosted a building breeze and an even trickier tidal situation. X33 and X48 rounded mark 1 near enough at the same time, one boat having gone hard right and the other hard left, proving the advantage of the corners. Both boats converted excellent finishes of 2nd and 3rd respectively; whilst X32 finished 8th and X72 clawed themselves back into 9th on the last upwind to complete a great race for the Lymington boats.
Day 3
This day presented even less wind, but with high temperatures and clear skies; nevertheless, sailors were optimistic of a sea breeze filling in. Ultimately, they were proven right – but not before the Race Committee had made the somewhat confusing decision to abandon racing for the day, no more than ten minutes before the SW breeze rolled into Cowes. Disappointed, the crews correctly identified the pub as the best venue to spend the rest of the afternoon.
Day 4
Thursday was moving day. The race committee made amends for the previous day's disappointment by staging three excellent races in an excellent building SE breeze. The left seemed tidally favoured for race 4, and this proved to be the case. X33, X72 and X179 Expeditious, made good starts at the pin end and held their lanes out to the left. At the first cross, it was clear the left was the side to protect and the Lymington boats did just that. Venus finished 2nd, nearly snatching the win late on. Max Crowe kept his consistent series going with a 4th, narrowly pipped to the finish by Ibex. XL and X119 Lone Star finished 8th and 10th respectively, meaning 5 Lymington boats finished inside the top 10.
The course was shortened for race 5 and less tide made for a more even spread on the first upwind. X33 once again got away cleanly and were hot in pursuit of James Meaning's X156 Gleam at the top mark. All Lymington boats rounded that top mark inside the top 10, with X48, X32 and X119 converting top ten finishes. Lone Star's 9th place once again demonstrated the agelessness of Stuart Jardine.
Race 6, the last race of the day, was the first round the cans race of the week. Under a U flag start, X72 leapt off the start, however the crew's initial positive mood was soon gone as they learnt they had been OCS, an unfortunate end to an otherwise solid day of racing. However, the other Lymington boats more than compensated, as X33 used the left of the beat to secure her second 2nd place of the day, closely followed by X48 in 3rd and X32 in 5th. This exhausting day led to some Incredibly closes overall scores – Max Crowe and team were placed 2nd, one point behind X80. Rory Paton was 4th, a point ahead of, Nik, Hannah and Gareth in 5th, who were only ahead of Ibex on countback, whilst Lone Star lurked ominously in 12th – her consistent scoreline making her a threat to the top ten for the last day.
Day 5
Friday, the last day of the regatta dawned windless, and despite positive forecast predicting a building SW breeze, the central Solent remained flat clam for the majority of the morning. Nonetheless, the fleet were optimistic that racing would get underway once the sea breeze materialised. Sure enough, as it started to build all boats headed out to the race area expecting some great racing. Frustratingly, this was not to be as the regatta cut-off time had been reached and N over AP was displayed, ending proceedings. It was a slightly unfortunate end to a regatta that had witnessed some outstanding racing from the entirety of the fleet.
The finishing places make for very positive reading for the Lymington division. Max Crowe, Mike Crowe and Jeremy Baker finished with an excellent 2nd and surely gave John Tremlett the hardest challenge he has had to contend with in some years – a fantastic achievement. Rory Paton and crew jumped from 10th to 4th on Thursday and surely would've gone higher still had there been racing on Friday. Their overall finish nonetheless a fine achievement. Venus, sailed by the youngest crew in the fleet, can be delighted with an overall finish of 5th, as can Ibex as they too improved steadily throughout the week to take 6th. Remarkably, there was a Lymington boat in the top 3 of every race, and 4 Lymington boats in the top ten overall. This made them the best performing division. Well-done team! It all bodes well for Cowes Week.
Lymington XOD Results:
2nd – X33 Claire De Lune – Max and Mike Crowe and Jeremy Baker
4th – X48 XL – Rory Paton, Jo Hutchinson and Ollie Tait
5th – X72 Venus – Nik, Hannah and Roy Froud and Gareth Viney
6th – X32 Ibex, Paul Woodman, Ollie James and Paul Davis
12th – X119 Lone Star, Stuart and Robert Jardine and Christian Brewer
18th – X179 Xpeditious, James Markby, Alex Hayman and Simon McCarthy